Update: Sign a petition calling for justice for Lama here.
Cleric sheikh Fayhan Al Ghamdi, a regular on Islamic channels, was absolved and made to pay blood money (only half of what he would have had to pay had he killed a boy) for raping and torturing his five year old daughter Lama last October; he had custody of the child after he divorced from her mother though she begged him for Lama.
The absurdly lenient ruling is based on Saudi law that a father cannot be executed for murdering his children. It is also based on some Hadith sources (sayings and actions of Mohammad).
According to OnIslam:
As for fathers, the matter is different; a father cannot be executed for killing his child. This is because a father is the considered the origin of his child and the child is the branch; and the branch cannot be used to eliminate the origin.
It was narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “No father should be killed (executed) for killing his son.” (At-Tirmidhi)
Having said this, it should be also pointed out that Imam Malik has a different opinion: if a father kills his son definitely on purpose without any doubt, he may be executed.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Three Saudi activists, including Manal al-Sharif from the SaudiWomen2Drive campaign, have raised objections to the ruling. They have started a Twitter campaign hashtag “Ana Lama” which is Arabic for “I am Lama”. The campaign must be unequivocally supported until there is justice for Lama.
Imprisoned Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari did say “No Saudi women will go to hell, because it’s impossible to go there twice”, but I do sometimes wonder whether hell isn’t better.
Please remember Lama next time someone tells you that matters of marriage, divorce, child custody, and females being worth half of males are ‘mundane’ family matters that can be relegated to Kangaroo Sharia courts.
I held my son a little closer when I picked him up from school today and wept for Lama and her mother who speaks below about what happened (in Arabic):
I know heinous child abuse, rape and torture occurs everywhere. I’ve heard some of the worst cases right here in Britain. But it is only under Sharia (and religious laws) that there is always some Islamic justification for leniency or for blaming the mother or child. This case reminds me of an Iranian asylum case I worked on years ago where the Sharia judge told the woman that she was responsible for her child’s sexual abuse as she was not satisfying her husband…
And in the wonderful Islamic tradition of obsessing about females, one Saudi cleric has issued a fatwa calling for parents to put burkas on their babies to prevent child sexual abuse…
Ana Lama
Ana Lama
Ana Lama…
I despise Sharia
I despise Sharia
I despise Sharia…
19 comments
7 pings
Skip to comment form ↓
Comtessa de Metoncula
February 4, 2013 at 4:57 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
The so-called Prophet Mohammed would be imprisoned here for pedophilia. We have our share of religious pedophile lunatics here too and every religious sect ( They all are!) seems to be affected and not addressed properly..Look what is happening in the Catholic Church!
What do you expect in a man made monotheistic religion?
The notion of an invisible Male misogynist God is the best marketing ploy ever conceived by men..Actually in the Jewish Bible, I believe it was Abraham in the days of common human sacrifices ( they were very civilized in those days!) who came up with this brilliant idea of an invisible God that tells him to stop with the killing of his son..He was no fool, actually he was brilliant! Trust a Jew coming up with that marketing idea and billions of stupid, scared human animals bought the concept..
Organized religion is the worst that happened to human animals!
alanflynn
February 4, 2013 at 10:36 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Comtessa, your opposition to religion is commendable, but please reflect on that “Trust a Jew” remark: that is uncalled for.
alanflynn
February 4, 2013 at 10:50 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
That poor little girl … it is just unspeakable. The whole world is sickened & stupefied by this case. Maryam is right to say that this sort of horrific abuse – tragically – occurs everywhere. It is the ridiculous nature of the legal system which is characteristic of Saudi Arabia. That there is now organised opposition in the form of Manal, Hamza & others gives a ray of light for the future of that country. Rest in peace little Lama x
mxh
February 5, 2013 at 1:16 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
This isn’t just Saudi Arabian laws being ridiculous. It’s all citizens of Saudi Arabia essentially being terrible people for letting this go on.
Maryam Namazie
February 6, 2013 at 12:00 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
There is always resistance but not so easy under a dictatorship. Even so, several people have publicly challenged this ruling including the woman behind the SaudiWomen2Drive campaign. The #AnaLama campaign was started in Saudi Arabia…
But let me get your argument straight – even in a democracy where people supposedly have a say – are you saying the public are responsible for all the cuts on our welfare system, schools and libraries, anti-immigrant legislation, bonuses to bankers, outright institutionalised racism, Sharia courts in Britain, wars and so on? To only see people and not systems at play does a disservice to the many dissenters often risking their lives. Also it makes it seem that the Saudi government represents all Saudis, which is just illogical.
Deepak Shetty
February 13, 2013 at 9:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
But let me get your argument straight – even in a democracy where people supposedly have a say – are you saying the public are responsible for all the cuts on our welfare system, schools and libraries, anti-immigrant legislation, bonuses to bankers, outright institutionalised racism, Sharia courts in Britain, wars and so on?
Interesting – but to flip the argument around, in a democracy, would you say that the people who vote for, for e.g., tea party candidates are not responsible for what happens when these people get elected and pass laws?
Maryam Namazie
February 14, 2013 at 11:11 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Generally, people are always accountable of course – even when they do nothing – but my point was that you cannot equate all people with a ruling system especially one that is a theocracy and dictatorship.
MMorgan
February 5, 2013 at 1:43 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
And here in UK, our fantastically intelligent politicians and judicary(!) are falling over themselves to introduce Sharia law into the judicial system. See last weeks news.
May Ana Lama now rest in peace, finally free from the psychopathic father who ruined her precious life.
Eris Miller
February 5, 2013 at 2:46 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Thank you for the very informative article. I couldn’t agree more on the opinions you express, but some of the facts you relate were not quite known to me. Ana Lama. :’(
glodson
February 5, 2013 at 9:21 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I’ve read this story many times. I think I come close to crying just about every time. When you wrote this “I held my son a little closer when I picked him up from school today,” it was a little worse this time. All I could think of was my little girl.
I find myself mourning this little girl I never knew each time. It hurts to read this, but I am glad I did.
dysomniak, darwinian socialist
February 6, 2013 at 2:59 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
While I agree the qualification that follows is absurd, Are you saying he should be executed? Are you pro death penalty?
Maryam Namazie
February 6, 2013 at 11:41 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
No I am opposed to the death penalty even for this vile man. But there are other options other than execution and not being held accountable, is there not?
dysomniak, darwinian socialist
February 13, 2013 at 4:15 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Thank you for the clarification. Of course what this man did is horrible, and he should be held accountable. And it is disgusting that his crime is considered lesser because his victim was female.
I guess my reaction to the line I quoted is similar to my reaction to the suggestion that women should be drafted: I despise gender discrimination but I also don’t want to see anyone drafted, period.
Draken
February 6, 2013 at 8:38 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
From the linked babyburka article:
Oh alright, no problem then. Move on people, nothing to see here, the Saudi governernment is in control!
*spit*
dravid
February 14, 2013 at 1:09 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
What is amazing is that in what should be a kind and gentle place of critical thinking the Comtessa still came up with a negative comment against a group of people. I try to deal with people as I find them, I have more in common with a moderate and educated Muslim then a fanatical Jew (I am of Jewish descent). If we see people in general as not race (we are all The Human Race) but as cultural divergence and within that cultural divergence Bell Curves of opinion I’m sure we will see major overlapping of common ground and opinion. (no I don’t have a study). However I seems to me that a major contributing factor to what skews us away from common ground is religion. What chance have we got for the future when statements such as “Trust a Jew coming up with that marketing idea” which lumps a group of people into one “Type” are made in a forum such as this? Is this place (FTB) still the world in microcosm?
riu
February 14, 2013 at 3:25 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Not based on any and every crime should be punishable by … any hemisphere such a thing could happen, because all equipped with the nature to be very good and at the same time can turn into a very bad one.
# participate sad, and the earth is getting close to hell.
Shigawire
February 16, 2013 at 9:21 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
If Mohammed (no peace upon him) were alive today, he’d be in prison getting raped as a prison bitch.
Paedophiles are not popular in prison.
Maria Lionti
May 2, 2013 at 6:50 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
É in accettabile.
Questo signor Padre Padrone deve essere condannato.
Franklin Gaultney
May 16, 2013 at 9:58 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hello fantastically cool net site!! Guy .. Exquisite .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your website and assume the feeds also…I am blissful to attain many beneficial information acceptably at this juncture in the suggest, we want work made known added strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
Ana Lama, #AnaLama , and Malala for the Nobel. | Cuddles and Common Sense
February 5, 2013 at 1:18 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] This was before I heard about Lama, a five-year old girl who was, brace yourselves viciously beaten to death by her own father, a celebrity preacher, who somehow, brace again, “doubted his daughter’s virginity”. [...]
Around FtB » Pharyngula
February 5, 2013 at 2:08 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] Maryam tells us about Lama, a five year old girl who was raped and tortured by her father, which is apparently justifiable under Islamic law (he had to pay a fine, nothing more; it would have cost twice as much if the child had been a boy.) [...]
Too outrageous even for the Saudi royal family » Maryam Namazie
February 13, 2013 at 2:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] outrage over the rape, torture and murder of 5 year old Lama and the lenient sentence imposed on her Islamic cleric father has forced the Saudi royal family to [...]
The slut was just asking for it » Pharyngula
February 13, 2013 at 3:39 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] of course Maryam has been all over this story, and reports that the Saudi royal family has stepped in to demand more prison [...]
The home life of a “religious scholar” » Butterflies and Wheels
February 13, 2013 at 4:46 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] Maryam tells us too. [...]
Saudi advertising campaign not enough » Maryam Namazie
May 1, 2013 at 7:07 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] campaign in Saudi Arabia is clearly in response to the public outrage over the death of 5 year old Lama after facing horrendous and unspeakable tortures at the hands of her father, who was effectively [...]
Lividi sotto l’hijab: prima campagna saudita contro la violenza sulle donne - Monica Lanfranco - Il Fatto Quotidiano
May 2, 2013 at 8:10 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] in Arabia Saudita nasce chiaramente in risposta alla indignazione pubblica causata dalla vicenda di Lama, una bimba di soli 5 anni, morta dopo aver affrontato indicibili torture per mano di suo padre, che è stato effettivamente lasciato andare senza [...]